Lately, my training has been a little different, and I’ve been crawling like a lizard, crawling like a bear, and scuttling like a crab. It’s called quadrupedal movement training (or animal movement) and has taken over TikTok (with the associated hashtag #primalmovement) 2.4 billion views).
At first glance, this workout looks a little silly. It’s more like Gollum’s audition for “The Lord of the Rings” than a workout. But are they effective?
Proponents say the exercise targets muscles that are often ignored in other workouts, and that moving your arms and legs diagonally across your body (as opposed to just running in a straight line back and forth, for example) It claims to be important for building resilient joints and body awareness. .
To test animal movement, I collected some common exercises and tried them four times a week for a month. Here’s what I learned.
Mechanism and feel
There is a lot of overlap between animal movements and more established habits such as: yoga, Pilates and danceWhich aim Improve balance and core strengthas well as increasing joints mobility Dr. Sachin Allahabadi, an orthopedic surgeon in Houston, said he sometimes warms up with a “bear crawl” before a HIIT session.
However, research specific to animal movement is still limited.A small study found that burn about the same number It has a similar amount of time and calories as other moderate aerobic exercise, such as a doubles tennis match.another suggest It’s about improving coordination and flexibility in the hips and shoulders, which becomes especially important as we age.
At first, I found the training to be awkward and required intense concentration. What was his right hand doing? Where was his left foot? But after a few weeks, they started to feel close, almost like they were dancing. I also learned to move in ways I had rarely experienced in yoga class, which challenged my shoulders and arms. The 30-minute session didn’t leave him feeling as intense as a 10k, but he was definitely out of breath as if he’d just hiked a series of hills.
However, this is not a panacea. The movements can be repetitive and require additional strength training to maintain (or build) muscle mass. It’s also difficult to do while watching Netflix.
In the future, like Jeffrey Buxton, an exercise scientist at Grove City University, I’ll try using animal movements to break up long stretches at my desk. Or you can sprinkle it into your circuit training workouts. For example, do crab walks instead of jumping jacks. “This is a simple exercise that checks a lot of boxes,” Dr. Buxton said.